The Best Part of Fighting
by taitofan
Summary: Ariados and Jupetta have been fighting a lot... Luckily, Harley and Noctus have a plan to make them get along.


The Best Part of Fighting

by taitofan

Rated PG-13 for sexual situations

Disclaimer: I don't own anything official when it comes to Pokémon.

Author's note: This would be a sequel of sorts to _A New Addition to the Family_, which is a sequel to _Project G_. You don't _have_ to read either of those, though you might be a bit lost without doing so, so I strongly recommend it. Things were resolved much too quickly in the last fic… Besides, I _really_ wanted to write Insomniashipping. It's much too cute for its own good. I'll probably continue in this timeline, focusing on different combinations each time. So if you have a suggestion, feel free to contact me!

If you have any CC, please share and I'll listen. Please read, review, and enjoy! Finished 01-02-06 (slightly revised so my eyes don't bleed as much 07-17-2013)

* * *

When the first thing one heard upon waking up was a loud crash, said individual knew that the day would be, for lack of a better word, interesting. So when Harley woke up to not one, not even two, but _three_ loud crashes in succession, he knew that he was in for trouble. He blinked a few times to adjust his eyes to the sunlight pouring into the room and saw Noctus sitting beside him and yawning.

"What the hell was that?" the hybrid questioned, looking over to the tableside clock and seeing that it was only five thirty in the morning. After noticing that their large bed was rather empty, he sighed and shook his head. "Never mind. But what the hell could those two be doing so early in the morning?"

"Good question," Harley mused, pushing the blankets back and sleepily getting out of bed. "But whatever they're up to, I'm sure it's nothing but trouble." Noctus nodded, following the coordinator in suit as they made their way downstairs.

"Tell me about it. Things were going really well for a while, but now those two can't say three words to each other without threatening to commit murder."

"I think three words is being generous," Harley grumbled, ready to give his youngest lovers a piece of his mind as soon as he was sure that neither boy was dead or bleeding to death. Five thirty was _way_ too early to be dealing with this…

As they got closer to the kitchen, they began hearing voices. The closer they got the more obvious it was that the voices were yelling and extremely pissed off. Well, they had been right. Now the only question was _why_ they were mad at each other this time… Had one touched the other? Said something? Looked at the other? Whatever it was, the elder two were ready to duct tape their mouths shut.

"Ready?" Harley questioned as they reached the kitchen door. Noctus nodded wearily.

"Ready." Taking a deep breath, Harley hesitantly opened the door—

—And shut it right before a large carving knife embedded itself into his skull.

"What the _fuck_ was that about?!" Noctus exclaimed, his eyes as big as saucers.

"It was Jupetta, Master Harley!"

"Shut up you twit! I didn't mean to Master Harley, I'm sorry!" Sensing that the danger had passed, for the moment at least, Harley threw open the door and stalked in, Noctus following him cautiously.

"What do you two think you're—" his jaw snapped shut as he saw the state of his beloved kitchen. All of the utensils were thrown about the room, the knives were stuck into various surfaces when they'd missed their targets, the plates had shattered against the walls and were lying in pieces on the floor, the glass and porcelain cups had met the same fate… It looked like a bomb had been set off. He desperately wanted to think that someone had broken in, but the scorch marks and sticky webbing, obviously made by Will o' Wisp and String Spit respectively, were a dead giveaway to the culprits…

"My kitchen…" Harley whimpered. "My beautiful kitchen! You two… You! It's— No… I— _Why_…?" When it became obvious that the distraught man was about to have a major meltdown, Noctus took charge.

"Ariados, go up to the bedroom and stay there." Jupetta smirked as the lilac-haired boy pouted. "And you, Jupetta, go to the living room and stay there." Ariados stuck out his tongue as Jupetta glared at him. "And if you two don't hurry up and leave, I'll Poison Pin your asses all the way to Jouto, understand?" The hybrids, knowing better than to call his bluff, quickly ran off to their respective punishment rooms without another word.

Noctus sighed and led Harley over to a chair that didn't have a knife sticking out of it. Knowing that his lover would be of no help in his distressed state, he started the long task of trying to salvage what was left of the kitchen.

* * *

It took two hours, but Noctus was finally able to gather all of the salvageable utensils, plates, and cups. Unfortunately, there were very few of the latter two that weren't in millions of tiny pieces. They'd have to replace most of it, as well as hire someone to fix the holes in the walls, chairs, and table. By the time he cleaned up all of the glass, Harley was finally able to form a complete sentence.

"Why?" It was short, but it was complete at least.

"Why what? Why do they always fight, or why did they wreck the kitchen and everything in it?"

"Both." Noctus sighed and looked for a place to sit. After he'd removed all of the knives, the remaining chairs had a nice variety of nicks in the wood and tears in the cushions. He finally settled for one that didn't look like it was about to fall apart.

"You know… I think Jupetta's still jealous. I know he said he was fine with Ariados living with us, but I think he's feeling insecure. As for Ariados, I'd guess he's feeling the same way. Just in the opposite. Jupetta's insecure cause there's a new cute kid around, and Ariados knows that Jupetta has been with us a lot longer. They don't realize that we love them equally, no matter how long they've been with us." Harley blinked at the answer he received—which was far more thoughtful than he expected from Noctus—then gave his lover a skeptical look.

"Have you been reading Robert's psychology books again?" Noctus blushed, refusing to look him in the eyes.

"Me? Of course not…" Harley gave him '_the look_.' "Okay, okay. Maybe just a little… But I'm right, and you know it! They're jealous of each other. When I was jealous of you when we first became humans, what did I do? I was a fucking asshole. And since they almost blew up part of the house, I'd say the jealousy runs pretty deeply." Harley nodded, remembering that time perfectly.

"Okay, so you're right. Now what do we do about it? Somehow, I doubt that tying them up and forcing them to listen to us lecture them about getting along will do much good…" The hybrid ran his fingers over a large gash in the table that a butcher's knife had made, looking thoughtful.

"You know… I was reading in one of Robert's books about a technique to cure phobias called flooding. There was a piece about a man who was scared of Pupurin, so his wife filled their closet with them, pushed him in, and locked the door. He was in there for _five hours_. By the time she let him out, he was fine! Maybe all we need to do is force them to spend time together where they can't fight." Harley tapped his fingers against the table, contemplating the idea.

"So you think we should lock them in a closet? Couldn't they kill each other if left unsupervised?"

"Good point…"

They sat in silence for a while, both pondering how they could get their younger boyfriends to stop acting like enemies and start acting more like lovers. The last thing they needed was to have to replace everything in _another_ room…

Harley's eyes suddenly lit up.

"That's it…" Noctus raised an eyebrow.

"What's it?" He stood up and gestured around the ruined kitchen.

"We have to replace everything! We'll have to go to the department store in Minamo City and buy new things! There'll be lots of people, so if we leave them alone on a different floor, they won't be able to commit murder! It'll be perfect!" Noctus grinned as he stood up and put his arms around the coordinator's waist, pulling him close.

"You're brilliant," he complimented.

"Right back at you." The scheming twosome drew together for a kiss, ready to put their plan into action.

* * *

Jupetta and Ariados had been fetched from their various punishments and brought to the kitchen. Harley wasted no time getting right to the point.

"Since you two destroyed my kitchen, we'll have to go to Minamo City to buy replacements. I _would_ leave you two here as punishment, but I really have no desire to come back and find the house blown up. So we're all going together. Two of us will get new furniture, and the other two will get everything else. Understand?" The boys nodded before glancing at each other out of the corner of their eyes. Then—

"I wanna go with you Master Harley!"

"Can I go with you Master Harley?"

—in perfect harmony.

"I asked first!"

"No,_ I_ did! You just _said_ you wanted to go with him!"

"You went with him the last time we went somewhere!"

"No, _you_ did! I was stuck with Noctus!"

"Jeez," said hybrid muttered, "I feel so loved…" Harley sighed at the juvenile display. As flattered as he was that they both wanted to be with him, he had a feeling it was more so they could rub it in the other's face than to actually spend time with him.

"Neither of you is staying with me." That shut them up. "Noctus will go with me to pick out the furniture, and you two will buy new plates and cups to replace the ones you broke. You'll need to buy new utensils too, as Noctus found several of them melted by what I'll assume was a Will o' Wisp attack…" Jupetta blushed, but didn't deny it.

"So I have to go with _him_? Can't we just go by ourselves?" Harley gave Ariados a firm stare, causing the boy to turn his gaze to the floor.

"Yes, you _do_ have to go with him. And no, you _cannot_ go off by yourselves. I don't want you to get lost, or be kidnapped, or even have your pendants stolen! If I find out that you two didn't stay together, I'll just leave you there! And if you manage to find your way home, you'll both be sleeping outside for the next three months! Do you understand?" They glared openly at each other, but nodded nonetheless.

"Yes Master Harley…"

"If you say so Master Harley…"

Harley and Noctus shared a look, both hoping the same thing—

'_I hope this works…'_

* * *

During the entire ride to Minamo City, Jupetta and Ariados sat in the back seat and pouted. Luckily, they were too afraid of Harley's wrath to fight. …Well, to fight _too_ loudly at least.

"Little brat… This is all your fault," Jupetta whispered angrily. Ariados considered throwing his one of his yo-yos at his rival's head, but thought better of it.

"You're one to talk… You started throwing the knives."

"_You_ threw a plate at me!"

"You called me a bitch!"

"You _are_ a bitch!"

"Why, I'm gonna—"

"Shut up!" Noctus shouted over them. "If you can't even sit next to each other without fighting, then how are you going to shop together? …Besides, Harley is the biggest bitch of the family. Don't forget it." Harley sighed deeply, shaking his head as he drove on. He wondered if this was such a good idea…

"He's right… About the behaving part at least. Now be good, please? Jupetta, don't call Ariados names. Ariados, throwing _my_ plates isn't the proper come back to being called names. We're all going to get along today, right?" They slumped in their seats and went back to pouting.

"Sure…"

"Whatever…"

The poor coordinator wondered if this was some divine retribution for all of the tricks he'd played on Haruka…

"It's going to be all right," Noctus said softly, placing his hand on Harley's knee. "They'll get over this." Harley smiled at his normally gruff lover's compassion. Yes, everything would be fine… Eventually.

* * *

They managed to reach Minamo City without any other mishaps, quite possibly because the youngest hybrids were afraid of being yelled at again. Harley parked his car, getting envious glares from the passing trainers who had to _walk_ around Houen, and led the three into the department store. Ariados, the only one who had never been there before, looked around with wide eyes.

"It's so _big_," he gasped. "What if I get lost?" Harley smiled at his childlike wonder, bending down and kissing his cheek.

This, of course, caused Jupetta to give the smaller boy a fierce glare.

"You'll be fine. Jupetta has been here before, and there are maps all over the place just in case he forgets his way. If you happen to get separated," he narrowed his eyes at the two, "which had better be _purely_ by accident, you can ask anyone who works here, and they'll help you. Okay?" Ariados nodded, though it was obvious that he was a bit afraid that Jupetta would ditch him, threatened or not. Sensing his danger, Noctus pulled Jupetta off to the side while Harley showed Ariados how to follow the store's floor layout on the map.

"Look, I know you don't like this idea—"

"That's an understatement…"

"—but you _have_ to stay with him. And you can't fight or you'll get us _all_ kicked out. We'll only be here for a few hours; don't you think you can keep from picking a fight for that long?" Jupetta crossed his arms and gave his lover an indignant look.

"What makes you think I'll start a fight? What about _him_?" Noctus rolled his eyes at the question.

"Do I look stupid to you? _You_ start ninety-nine percent of your fights. And I thought you were over being jealous of him the first day Harley brought him home…" Jupetta opened his mouth to retort, but Harley, who had just finished his explanation, cut him off.

"Okay, are we ready to go?" Getting three nods, he handed Jupetta a credit card and kissed the top of his head. "Good. See you guys later. Behave!" Not waiting for a response, he and Noctus headed for the elevators, leaving the two giving each other dubious looks.

"I'm not jealous of you!" Jupetta suddenly shouted, causing Ariados to blink in confusion.

"Wha—"

"Nothing," Jupetta cut him off, blushing at his outburst, "never mind. Let's just go get this over with…" He stalked off down the foyer, leaving Ariados to race after him.

"Hey, wait for me!"

* * *

"I think we should get the blue ones."

"No, the green is better."

Jupetta and Ariados stood in one on the various stores, looking at the sets of silverware available. They were currently arguing over which would be better, blue or green bands on the handles. The poor sales associate looked frazzled as the boys fought over _everything_ they had on their list on things that they needed to buy.

"Excuse me, but we also have a set with blue _and_ green bands," she mentioned politely. Of course, that would be too easy.

"No! They have to be green! Everything else we've picked out is green, so these need to match!" Ariados glared for all he was worth, wondering why Jupetta always had to be so difficult.

"No they don't! They should be blue so Master Harley will have a variety!"

"Stop being so stubborn you stupid brat!"

"Why don't _you_?"

The sales associate shook her head wearily, wondering why she always seemed to get the crazy ones…

"…Hey, these ones are the same color as Master Harley and Noctus's hair!"

"Wow, let's get these!"

…It was going to be a long day.

* * *

It didn't take long at all for Harley and Noctus to pick out everything that they needed. The furniture had been ordered and was scheduled to be sent to their home later that night. Now, as they wandered down a random wing, they wondered what they could possibly do…

"There's no way they've finished yet, is there?" Harley shook his head sadly.

"I honestly doubt it… Remember that rumbling we heard come from the floor below us ten minutes ago? How much do you want to bet that _somehow_ they had something to do with it? Maybe we should just go look for them and make sure no one was injured while we were gone…" Noctus loved his younger lovers more than anything, but he didn't like seeing their childish antics upsetting his older lover. He thought back to all of Robert's books, and brightened up as he remembered something.

"No. We're not going to get them. We're flooding them, remember? Submerge them in a disliked situation to make them face their fear. They fear that the other will take you away, right? So let's leave them here!" Harley looked at Noctus as if he'd sprouted another head and a few extra arms.

"What? You just want to leave them here? Are you _crazy_?" He shook his head, smiling at his plan.

"No, I'm fine! Don't you see? We leave them here, _completely_ by themselves, for a few hours. You won't be anywhere near them, so the source of the problem will be removed. They'll have no choice but to get over their jealousy!" Harley thought the idea over. If this worked, it'd certainly save him from a lot of future headaches. If it didn't… Well, they could potentially kill each other. But since there'd be so many other people around, maybe they'd refrain from using their attacks… They did know better than to draw unwanted attention to themselves after all…

"All right," he eventually replied, grinning cheerfully. "We'll go off by ourselves for a while and let them work things out by themselves. It _has_ been a long time since the two of us had any real time alone…" he dropped his voice seductively. "And it _really_ turns me on when you talk so intelligently…"

Noctus thanked Arceus above as they quickly made their way to the ground floor. After a quick stop at the information booth, they left the department store and were off to find a place where they could be alone.

Neither could wait.

* * *

By the time Jupetta and Ariados finally managed pick everything out, the sales associate had been carted out of the store after she'd suffered from a nervous breakdown. They left the store with their bags, the same amount each so no one would complain, and wandered down the hall.

"I wonder where Master Harley and Noctus are…" Jupetta wouldn't admit it, be he was just as worried as Ariados. After all, they'd been in there for well over an hour. Their lovers could be anywhere at that point!

"Stop worrying. We'll just go to the front desk and ask the workers to page them. See, simple?" Ariados nodded, too relieved to put up a fight. He'd get back at the older hybrid some other time…

Since they were already on the ground floor, it was a quick walk to the information desk. Two women, a blonde and a redhead, sat behind the counter. The redhead was flipping through a magazine, obviously bored out of her mind. The blonde was typing something into her computer, appearing to be actually doing her job.

"Excuse me," Jupetta said, going up to the more efficient looking blonde. "Can you help us? We're looking for—" She looked up when he started talking, and cut him off with a smile once she got a good look at the boys before her.

"Harley, right? Your brother left a message with us for you. He said that he and his boyfriend were going off to do a few things, and that they'd pick you up before dinner. He also said that you can use the credit card to buy lunch." She thought back to the conversation for a moment before adding, "Oh yes, and he made sure to emphasize that you were not to leave each other alone, or to kill each other. Is there anything else you need?" Dazed and confused, the boys shook their heads. "Good! Now have a good day and enjoy your time with us at the Minamo City Department Store!"

Having nothing else to say, she went back to her typing. They slowly walked away from the booth, Jupetta leading the way to the elevator. They got in and rode it up to the fifth floor, the food court. All the while, they didn't say a word to each other. They didn't know _what_ to say. Harley had gone off with Noctus and left them all alone. It just didn't make any sense…

When the elevator stopped, they got out and made their way to the first thing they saw—a noodle cart. After ordering and paying, all done in a manner much too subdued to be normal for either of them, they took their food over to a table and began to eat. After a few more minutes of silence, Ariados spoke up.

"Jupetta?" Said hybrid refused to look up as he answered.

"What?" Ariados fiddled with his chopsticks, wondering how to word his question.

"Why… Why do you think Master Harley left us here? Why did he only take Noctus with him? Why'd he tell that girl that we're his brothers, but that Noctus is his boyfriend? Doesn't he love us anymore?" Jupetta sighed, his normally vibrant red eyes clouded over with confusion.

"Of course he does, don't be stupid. He couldn't tell them that he had three boyfriends, now could he? And… Maybe they just wanted some time alone. I'd ditch you guys to have some time alone with him too. Wouldn't you?" Ariados nodded, though he still looked upset.

"Yeah… But do you think that maybe…" He trailed off, thinking that perhaps what he was going to say wasn't as good as it'd sounded in his head. Jupetta, however, was curious now, and gave him a look that clearly said, '_Tell me now or suffer_.' He wisely decided against tempting the fates. "Well, maybe they wanted to leave us alone because we've been fighting so much. Maybe they just got sick of listening to us…" Jupetta tried his best to remain calm, but found it hard to do as he realized that the idea was entirely plausible… And extremely likely.

"Well, maybe, I guess… But they'll be back for us. It's not like they're leaving us here forever since we stuck together all day… Right?" Ariados nodded, albeit hesitantly.

"Of course. I mean, he said he'd only leave us here if we killed each other or left each other… And we didn't do any of that. He'll be back for us by dinner, just like that lady said… I just hope…" He trailed off again. Jupetta poked his arm impatiently.

"What? You just hope what?" Ariados looked up his cheerless eyes.

"I just hope that the next time we go somewhere, he won't ditch us for good." Jupetta sat up straight, scowling openly.

"Don't you dare say things like that! I've known him _way_ longer than you have, and I know he'd never do that! He loves us, and—" He stopped abruptly, a look of understanding dawning in his eyes. "That's it… That's it! Come on, grab your bags and follow me; we have to talk." Doing as he was told, he quickly followed Jupetta back to the elevators, leaving their cold lunch on the table.

* * *

Jupetta led Ariados out of the elevator, and to their latest destination—the roof. Ariados was amazed as he glanced over the side, not believing how incredibly high up they were. Jupetta didn't allow him much time to gawk though, and he was soon being pulled over to a row of vending machines on the opposite side of the roof. If there was anywhere to be alone in the entire establishment, this was it.

"Jupetta?" he at last questioned once the other boy sat down, pulling him down as well so they were sitting across from each other. "What's going on? What's _'it'_?" Jupetta's expression was finally devoid of any negativity, and he was smiling at the younger boy. This, of course, confused said boy greatly.

"I finally get it! Don't you see? The reason they made us stick together in the first place? The reason they left us alone?" Ariados blinked at his enthusiasm.

"Um… To make us get along?"

"Yes!" Jupetta cried happily. "To make us get along! So all we have to do is make them believe that their plan worked, and that we're friends. Then they'll never ditch us again!" Ariados laughed uncertainly at this so-called epiphany.

"Um, Jupetta, I don't think that was quite what they had in mind…" The older hybrid's eyes narrowed at his proverbial bubble being burst.

"What do you mean?" Ariados rolled his eyes in disbelief. And he thought that _he_ was supposed to be the naïve one…

"Think about it. If they went through so much trouble, don't you think that they wanted us to talk about things and get along for real?" Jupetta shrugged half-heartedly.

"I guess…"

"Then don't you think we should do just that?" Jupetta snorted in disdain at the idea.

"What do you want me to say? I hate you, and that's that. I was just pretending to like you that first day so Master Harley wouldn't be mad at me anymore." Of course, Ariados didn't believe that for a second. The things that Jupetta had said that day, the things he'd _done_… There was no way it had all been fake. Whatever his problem was, it was probably the same thing Ariados himself was going through…

And it seemed like he was going to have to be the mature one for once and just admit it.

"…I don't believe you." He allowed time for Jupetta to object, but the other boy stayed silent. "You don't really hate me; you're still just jealous that I came along and took up even more of Master Harley's time." Now Jupetta opened his mouth to protest, but Ariados quickly went on. "And to tell the truth, I'm jealous of you too." That earned him a nice, confused stare.

"You… You _are_? Why?" The lilac-haired boy forced himself to keep his gaze off the floor, knowing that now was no time to be bashful.

"Well… You and Noctus have been with Master Harley for a really long time… I'm just the new pokémon. Sometimes I look at him with you two, and I think that I'll never be good enough… Especially you. Noctus says all the time how we act just like each other in a lot of ways, so you know… I just…"

"Think you're just a clone that can never be as good as the original?" Jupetta offered once Ariados trailed off yet again.

"Yeah, something like that." And for the second time since they'd met, Ariados made Jupetta feel like a Grade-A jerk. It didn't take even a moment of thought to know that he had to clear this up… _Now_.

"Ariados… You're right. I don't hate you. I was jealous too. I was afraid that Master Harley loved you more, because you're sweet, kind, cute and… Just like me, only with tighter clothes. You thought you'd never be as good as the original, and I thought—"

"—that the original was outdated, right?" Jupetta nodded with a wry grin.

"Yeah, that sounds about right."

They sat for a while just looking at each other, not saying a word. They knew that they'd been going about things the wrong way. They also knew that if they'd just talked in the first place, they'd have realized that there was nothing to be jealous about. Then, perhaps, they could have bypassed the whole ruin-the-kitchen-and-be-forced-to-make-up phase that they were currently in. It didn't do them any good to dwell on the past though, so Jupetta moved so that he was sitting side-by-side with the smaller boy.

"You know, humans have a saying about fighting." Ariados sighed contently, snuggling up to his lover.

"Yeah? And what's that?" Jupetta smirked, putting his arms around him, and pulling him securely into his arms.

"That the best part is making up."

The serene silence that followed was all the apology that either boy needed.

* * *

It luckily didn't take Harley and Noctus long to find their young loves once they returned to the department store. It was hard to miss a couple of guys who looked like they were headed to a cosplay event, so they were quickly led up the floors until they reached the food court. The next step had been asking the security guards on each floor above that if they'd seen the boys. When each floor had come up as a "no," the roof was the only other option.

"I just hope they didn't get upset and leave," Harley fretted as they rode the elevator up.

"Calm down," Noctus did his best to soothe the pacing man, though he was much too bemused by the scene to sound very sincere. "No one saw them leave. So unless they suddenly learned how to teleport, they'll be up there. …Now quit pacing." Harley sighed, but did as he was requested. Noctus was right of course, but that didn't stop him from worrying…

As soon as the doors opened, Harley sprinted out in search of the hybrids. Noctus followed at a more leisurely pace, wondering how the other man could move so fast after everything they'd done that afternoon…

"Jupetta! Ariados! Where are—" Noctus eventually caught up to him and tapped his shoulder. "What is it?" The hybrid pointed to the vending machines and Harley sighed in relief at the sight he saw. Jupetta held Ariados close, while the younger boy was snuggled into his chest as they slept.

"So… I guess our plan worked then." Harley nodded, smiling softly at the saccharine sight. _This_ was how they were meant to be. His cute little lovers, the perfect display of innocent devotion… He'd never been happier that he brought Ariados into their lives then he did at that moment.

"It certainly did. Now I hate to wake them… But we really need to get home before the furniture does." They both knew it must be done, so they made their way over to the sleeping couple before gently shaking them awake.

"Huh?" Jupetta came to with a yawn. "Master Harley, you're back… Hmm, me and Ari love each other again, so we won't fight anymore. I promise." Harley chuckled at the sleepy answer, kissing his forehead.

"I can see that. Now it's time to wake up so we can get home before our new furniture does, okay?" Jupetta nodded, getting to his feet and supporting an equally drowsy Ariados as they walked back to the elevator. Noctus grabbed their bags, and the four headed down to Harley's car, their adventure finally over.

* * *

"So, what did you guys do while you were gone?" Jupetta questioned from the back seat, now fully awake. Noctus smirked at the memory, hoping that they'd get a chance to do it again soon.

"We went dancing." Ariados, who was also awake and playing with the material of Jupetta's shirt, raised an eyebrow.

"Dancing? You had all that time together, and you just _danced_?" Noctus twisted around so he could look at them, and his smirk was all they needed to know that this was no regular dancing that they were talking about.

"We were dancing at an underground bar. Trust me, it was _anything_ but innocent." They trusted him all right. And they'd be sure to get all of the details, and hopefully a demonstration, once they returned home.

"So," Harley spoke up, hoping to draw the conversation away from the topic of dirty dancing before he became too distracted to drive, "did you guys have fun today?" They looked at each other and smiled. Jupetta grabbed Ariados's hand and squeezed it lovingly, causing the boy to giggle.

"Yeah Master Harley, we had a great time." Ariados nodded, leaning against his lover contently.

"Really great! So if you and Noctus wanna go dancing again, you can trust us to get along." The atmosphere in the car was a cheerful one at the honest and loving words from the boys who had finally remembered how much they cared about each other. Jupetta, who knew he wouldn't be making the same mistake for a third time now, whispered to Ariados as his lovers in the front of the car started their own conversation.

"Ari, remember how I said that the best part of fighting is making up?" The boy nodded, a curious gleam in his eyes.

"Yeah…" Jupetta grinned, kissing his cheek before continuing.

"Well, when we get back, let's make up properly…" Ariados's eyes lit up at the suggestion.

"Can I use the bondage tape?" He received another chaste kiss, a lingering promise of what was to come.

"Sure thing. Anything you want."

Suddenly, neither could wait to get home and do just that.


End file.
